


the spiral in the wheel

by statusquo_ergo



Series: a fire in the sage's mansion [8]
Category: Suits (US TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, Insecure Harvey, M/M, Season/Series 02, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-02 02:57:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16296950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/statusquo_ergo/pseuds/statusquo_ergo
Summary: Surely Mike must know how much he means to Harvey bynow.Alternatively titled:Harvey Specter Would Somewhat Prefer to Focus on the Future





	the spiral in the wheel

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: You received my prompt! (the one that Harvey forgot to eat..) Anyway, if you still looking for idea, how about Mike being insecure when he and Harvey bumped into one of Harvey’s ex-girlfriend (who is a hot supermodel) and Harvey trying to woo Mike and convince him that he only have eyes (and heart) for Mike? Feel free to bring in some smut if you want. If not, it is okay too :)
> 
> This fic takes place circa “The Choice” (s02e02).

Life, Harvey thinks, is a pretty funny thing.

Not in some particularly philosophical sense that questions the meaning of existence, “Why are we here” and “What’s the meaning of life” and all that crap. He’ll leave that one to the theologians; keeping up the charade of supervising a fake lawyer occupies quite enough of his mental capacity, thank you very much.

No, life is a funny thing the way that about a year ago, his biggest daily challenge was one-upping Louis Litt, his time spent doing anything and everything possible to cram yet another entry into his list of billables; waiting at the end of his tether for Jessica to sic him on their harshest critics; casually picking up a new partner every other night to bring back to bed. Life is a funny thing the way that some crazy punk kid sneaking into his associate interviews made him rethink his entire trajectory in a second and turn down a completely different path without even a hint of a plan. Life is a funny thing the way it withers his passion away bit by bit and then gives it all back tenfold without any warning at all.

Life is a funny thing the way that after all these years of settling into his self-indulgent bachelorhood, after finally coming to terms with his lot in life, he’s suddenly found someone to spend the rest of it with, someone to spoil the hell out of, and he couldn’t be happier.

He might be jumping the gun a little bit, but honestly, who can deny him his fantasies in the privacy of his own mind?

Nobody, that’s who.

Passing Mike his everything bagel with cream cheese, Harvey turns back to the coffee cart guy for change from his twenty as Mike smiles to himself.

“What?” he asks, raising his coffee to his lips. Mike shakes his head.

“Just thinking about how lucky I am.”

Harvey smirks. “Very observant.”

Mike nudges their shoulders together playfully as they make their way back toward the firm. “How could I not, you remind me every damn day.”

“Hey,” Harvey comments, gesturing his bagel vaguely toward the street, “you’re free to leave at any time.”

“But my meal ticket!”

Harvey snorts an ungainly laugh that he tries to hide behind his coffee cup, and Mike’s grin widens.

Yeah; life is pretty funny.

“Harvey Specter?”

Mike’s step stutters when Harvey slows his pace, his eyes narrowing suspiciously as a remarkably attractive woman diverts slightly from her prescribed route to stop in front of them with an ecstatic smile on her face, tossing her glossy black hair over her shoulder as though she’s trying to audition for something. There’s something vaguely familiar about her, but he can’t quite put his finger on what it is.

“I thought that was you!” she goes on brightly. “Fancy running into you here!”

Harvey tilts his head a bit; all at once, her voice clicks in his memory and he feels a practiced smile paste onto his face as his eyes dart around for a quick escape. For his part, Mike looks between them with some interest, and Harvey just hopes he can get out of this one before he has to formally introduce them.

“Madeleine,” he says. “It’s been awhile.”

“It has,” she simpers. “How have you _been?_ Still toiling away at…the firm?”

She was never the sharpest tack in the drawer, but to not even remember the name of his workplace is pretty weak. Mike sinks back a step, and Harvey leans unconsciously toward him.

“Pearson Hardman, yeah,” he fills in. “I am. I take it you’re still in the modeling business?”

Mike squints, and Harvey wishes he had a free hand to hold him around the waist or something. Not that he’s territorial, just…for Mike’s benefit. To make him feel better.

“I _am,_ ” she agrees. “Just got back from Paris, actually, I was jetting around Europe for fashion week. Such fun. I ran into Isabella, you remember her? My old roommate? She married last spring, spent her honeymoon on some adorable little island off the coast of Spain.”

Harvey nods woodenly. “No kidding… Listen, Madeleine, it’s been great running into you, but we have to get back to work.”

Her eyes widening, Madeleine delicately extends the back of her hand to Mike, who glances at Harvey nervously, as though he’s seeking permission to touch her. “How do you _do,_ ” she croons, “I am Madeleine Alicia; I don’t suppose Harvey’s told you about me?”

“Um,” Mike fumbles, reaching to take her hand. “Not enough.”

“No, I suppose he never did like to mix business with pleasure,” she dismisses. “Well, I won’t keep you; perhaps I’ll see you again soon, Harvey, and I hope you have an absolutely _delightful_ day!”

“You too,” Mike calls after her as she swans away. The moment she’s out of sight, Harvey shakes his head violently as though it might dislodge the memory of the encounter from his brain, and Mike looks at him curiously.

“You okay?”

“Hm?” Harvey pinches his lips and arches his eyebrows. “I’m fine.”

They continue walking back to the firm, and Mike nods slowly. “Okay,” he allows, “so…Madeleine Alicia.”

She’s no one, Harvey wants to say. Just another body. Someone to fill the time before I got to you.

“Old girlfriend,” he brushes off. “Don’t worry about it.”

Mike smirks at the ground.

“I guess I should be flattered,” he teases. “You really traded down.”

Shit, shit, shit. Harvey’s never made any secret of his past, his indifference toward his numerous bedmates; but Mike knows this is different, doesn’t he? Knows how much he means to Harvey? Knows he’s better than all the rest?

Harvey laughs thinly, his shoulders tensing across his back.

“Whatever you say,” he parries.

It’s okay. Really. They’re fine.

Yeah.

\---

Squirming about restlessly, Harvey flops over in bed to catch sight of the clock, rubbing his eyes as the numbers go in and out of focus. It’s four…something; he’s gotten maybe thirty nonconsecutive minutes of sleep all night long and feels an uncomfortable thrum of adrenaline beneath his skin that he knows is going to keep him up until the morning proper.

Mike doesn’t _really_ think Harvey traded _down,_ does he? Sure, Madeleine is a beautiful supermodel, and not completely stupid or anything, but Mike is far and away one of the most attractive people Harvey has ever met, and a goddamn genius besides. And he’s funny, and quirky, and exciting; he’s daring, honest, loyal, compassionate, brave, tenacious, optimistic—

Alright, alright, he’s in love, he gets it.

But does Mike?

Harvey squeezes his eyes shut and massages his forehead. They haven’t been together long; it’s not completely out of the bounds of possibility that Mike really doesn’t have a clear sense of how invested Harvey is in him. In them. He might not know he’s in this for the long haul. With Mike’s blunt sincerity, his willingness to take a long shot (but not _that_ long) and Harvey’s inability to deny him anything, they kind of skipped the whole wooing period.

Well, there’s no time like the present.

“Present,” now there’s an idea. Harvey lifts his hand off his face and squints into the darkness; he bought a copy of _Ready Player One_ after Mike mentioned it last week, planning to give it to him for their two-month anniversary next week, though, now that he thinks about it, that’s a pretty crappy gift, isn’t it? A little bit thoughtful, sort of, only in that it shows that Harvey pays attention when Mike talks about his interests, but that’s a pretty low bar. No, he’s got six days to come up with something better, something remotely good enough, and in the meantime, he can give the book to Mike today, just for fun. Just to show him how much he means to Harvey, to show him that he’s thinking about him, that he cares about what Mike cares about.

Pushing the covers down and setting his feet on the floor, Harvey shuffles to the walk-in closet and pulls the book in question from its hiding place under a pile of loungewear, mindlessly grabbing the nearest suit on his way back out into the bedroom. If he’s just going to be tossing and turning, he might as well head into the office early. He’ll leave the book on Mike’s desk to find when he gets in; it’ll be a nice surprise, shaking off the memory of that…unpleasant encounter.

In the kitchen, Harvey digs an index card out of a drawer full of miscellanea and scrawls a quick note, tucking it inside the book’s front cover. Just in case Mike doesn’t know who would’ve given him such a thing.

As though it could be anyone else.

\---

“Are you propositioning me?”

Fighting the coy little smile threatening to take over his entire face, Harvey finishes scribbling an annotation on the third page of a brief about the foreclosure of Madison 25 and glances up from under his lashes.

“I can’t imagine what you mean.”

Mike smirks, flipping the index card in his hand between his fingers. “‘Mixing business with pleasure’?” he presses, stepping closer. “If I’d known you were going to be so laissez-faire about all this, I would’ve tried to get into your pants at the Chilton.”

Laissez-faire? Really, Mike?

“You finish reading the environmental survey?” Harvey challenges in a small effort to reaffirm his authority.

“Of course,” Mike replies, faking affront. “What kind of errand boy do you take me for?”

“Only the best,” Harvey appeases him, dashing off another quick note. “Come on,” he says, standing in a sudden fit of inspiration, “let’s go.”

Mike cocks his head perplexedly. “Do we have another meeting with the bank rep?”

Shaking his head, Harvey closes his laptop and steps around his desk to fetch his coat from the closet. “Not today, rookie. We’re going to The Modern.”

“The Modern?” Mike echoes, hurrying after him out the door. “Are we meeting a client? I didn’t read the brief, I— Did you give me a brief? Do I have any idea what’s going on, or is this one of your trial-by-fire things? Are we meeting the chief executive editor of The Crimson? Let me— I’ll meet you downstairs, what files do I need to bring?”

Setting his hand comfortably on Mike’s back, Harvey guides him to the elevators and presses the call button. “No files,” he says. “We’re going out for lunch. Just you and me.”

Mike blinks uncertainly, and Harvey has the fleeting thought that he might’ve accidentally short-circuited his brain.

“Oh,” Mike says eventually. “Uh. Awesome.”

Harvey pats him on the shoulder.

\---

Glancing covertly out the door into the vacant halls, Harvey picks up his landline and presses the first entry on his speed dial.

For god’s sake, what is the damn holdup? He can hear the ringtone from his seat.

“Harvey Specter’s office, please hold.”

“I’m not screwing around, Donna.”

Peeking over her shoulder, Donna drums her fingers on her desk and looks at him archly. “I figured,” she intones. “What do you need?”

“Orchids.”

Donna drops her face into her open palm.

“Harvey…”

“Not for you,” he assures her, which only makes her sigh.

“You’re spoiling that kid.”

Harvey’s lips quirk in a little grin. “How’d you know?”

“Who else is it gonna be?”

Fair enough.

“It’s my money, I’ll use it how I want,” he chides. “How soon can you get them?”

Donna looks down at the clock at corner of her monitor. “Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“It’s after one PM.”

Harvey sighs his frustration. It’s not that he has a deadline, exactly, but… “You sure there’s nothing you can do?”

Donna scoffs. “Not if you want the quality I know you do. Harvey, one day without a present isn’t going to make him leave you.”

“I’m not worried he’s going to _leave_ me,” he retorts at once, which only makes her glance back at him again. He scowls in turn, refusing to honor any part of the statement as truth.

“I’m not,” he repeats. “I just…want him to feel special.”

She clicks her tongue in a way that means she thinks he’s being cute, and he’d take offense if not for the fact that it’s kind of true.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

He smiles gratefully. “You’re the best.”

“You know it.”

\---

“You realize my desk is about three sizes too small for a flowerpot.”

Shit, shit, shit. Harvey knows how small the desks are in the bullpen, he _knows_ how much work Mike has sprawled across his, all the time, and he really thought there was room for _flowers?_ And not just flowers, but _orchids._ Big, reaching, garish orchids. God, he’s a moron.

“No one’s forcing you to keep them,” he says with all the indifference he can muster, keeping his eyes on the screen of his laptop.

Mike scoffs loudly. “Like I would turn down a gift from the great Harvey Specter.”

So now Mike thinks he _has_ to keep the shit Harvey gives him? Great, so their relationship is some kind of contract negotiation, and Harvey won’t want to be with him anymore if he turns him down. Harvey knows he’s prideful, but can’t Mike see that this isn’t about showing off? It isn’t about bragging? It’s just— He just wanted to do something _nice,_ that’s all. Something he thought Mike would like, maybe, sort of.

“Stupider men have tried,” he says, because it sounds like something he would.

“You’ll pry those flowers from my cold dead hands,” Mike retorts immediately. “Rachel’s super jealous.”

Harvey smirks, just a little quirk at the corner of his mouth. It really wasn’t his intent to make anyone jealous; not even Rachel, who has admittedly taken it better than he expected that Mike is off the market so quickly after arriving at the firm. Of course, it’s not as though he’s going to deny how smug it makes him feel to know it’s happening.

“Glad you like them,” he says. “Tell me that’s not the only thing you came in here to talk to me about.”

This is a place of business, after all.

“So what’re you gonna do if it is?” Mike challenges, but Harvey sees the folder clutched tight in his hand and he beckons him forward, and Mike gives up without a fight, holding the file out as his face takes on a somewhat more somber expression.

“Yeah, no, I was going over Clapper’s assets, and not to brag or anything, but I think we’ve got this one signed sealed delivered. I mean, the guy’s bankrupt, so that’s not gonna make us look great, but other than that…”

Harvey takes the proffered folder, thinking of all he knows about Tom Clapper, and wishes life could be so easy. There’s no need to rain on the kid’s parade, though; he’ll figure it out.

At least he likes the orchids.

\---

Harvey skims through the company directory, trying to remember the name of that one IT guy who’s really taken to Mike. Something with a B, isn’t it? Barnaby, Bartholomew, Beaumont… Benjamin, that’s it. Benjamin…something. Harvey doesn’t know how many technicians Pearson Hardman has in its employ, but there can’t be too many, can there? And surely not more than one Benjamin.

“IT.”

“I’m looking for Benjamin,” Harvey says in his most authoritative voice, but the guy on the other end of the line just sighs.

“This is Benjamin. When was the last time your computer was working properly?”

“What?” Harvey scowls, though thinking it through, it’s reasonable of Benjamin to assume he’s calling IT for tech support. “No, my computer’s fine. I’m calling about someone else.”

“Company policy prohibits me from installing malicious software on any employee’s system,” Benjamin recites. “Might I recommend bringing this matter to Human Resources?”

Harvey smirks; he can see why Mike likes this guy. “Not why I was calling,” he says. “I want you to upgrade one of the computers in the bullpen.”

“Sir, the computers in the bullpen operate on a network—”

“I’ll pay for it,” Harvey interrupts. “I don’t need you to…reconfigure the whole system,” that’s a thing, right, reconfiguring the system? “I just want to replace one computer with a newer model. Anything you can do to make it…faster. Bigger hard drive.”

Benjamin sighs. “Network speed is limited by the fast ethernet—”

“Look,” Harvey interrupts again, “you can go on about this stuff all you want, I’m not gonna understand a word of it. I’m telling you, money’s no object, so all I want to know is what’s the best computer I can get, and how fast can you set it up?”

Benjamin makes a frustrated sound that Harvey doesn’t much care for, but he hasn’t hung up the phone yet, so that’s…something.

“The HP TouchSmart six-ten runs seventeen hundred and eighty-nine dollars and ninety-nine cents before tax,” he rattles off, Harvey’s willing to bet off the top of his head. “It has vastly more capability than a junior associate’s computer requires but it features touchscreen technology and all-in-one capability, and is relatively future-proof, by current market standards and projections.”

“So that’s the best computer on the market?” Harvey presses, resisting the urge to ask what, exactly, all-in-one capability is and why he should want it, lest Benjamin decide he’s not worth the trouble.

“There is an argument to be made to that effect,” Benjamin concedes. “Though for these purposes the HP Z210 Small Form Factor is a much more appropriate choice.”

Harvey stares blankly at the wall. “But the…the touchscreen is better? The all-in-one?”

Benjamin makes an uncertain noise, and Harvey wonders if he should head down to the IT department, wherever it is, and wave a stack of hundred dollar bills under his nose, just to make a point.

“Speaking broadly,” he hedges, “it is a superior unit, but in this environment—”

“So where can I get one?”

After a pause, Benjamin makes a sound like sucking a long breath in through his teeth, and Harvey drums his fingers against his desk.

“Best Buy is likely to have this model in stock.”

Harvey hums in the back of his throat; unless he’s very much mistaken, there’s a Best Buy at forty-fourth and Fifth, about a mile away.

“Alright,” he says firmly, pulling a notepad toward himself and seizing a pen. “Tell me that model number again.”

Benjamin sighs.

\---

“You realize you’re going to give me a complex.”

Harvey glances up with a smirk that only fades a bit under Mike’s arch mien. “Purely self-preservation,” he covers. “My guy always needs to be a step ahead.”

“Of…my coworkers?”

“Of everyone.”

Mike shakes his head, his rebuking expression falling away into a gentle grin. “I don’t deserve all this stuff.”

Scoffing, Harvey crosses out a paragraph on the paperwork sprawled before him. “First of all, I’m not giving it to you because you earned it, I’m giving it to you because I want to. And second, I’m giving it to you because I want to, so how about you take it and shut up.”

“Sir, yes sir.”

Harvey narrows his eyes. “Alright, Doctor Cox.”

Mike chuckles, handing over a stack of papers held together with a straining paperclip. “So should I be expecting jewelry next or is that only on my birthday?”

Jewelry? Harvey’s never given jewelry as a gift before; well, maybe a necklace or something, a tennis bracelet, but not seriously, not to someone he wanted to stick around. Nothing valuable, thoughtful, meaningful, _real._ Is there a protocol? A price point? Will Mike be offended if it’s something too expensive? What about if it’s too cheap? How will he know where the line is? Is a really nice watch good enough, or does he want something more original? More special? Some kind of necklace, maybe, or would that be too tacky? Or a ring?

Oh, god, is Mike already hinting that he wants a _ring?_

“You’ll just have to wait and find out,” he covers clumsily, relying on his innate charm and suaveness kicking in to carry the line off without raising Mike’s suspicions as he begins flipping through the papers. “We’re meeting with Clapper this afternoon, you got the files ready?”

Mike taps his forehead. “Good to go.”

“If you say so.”

“Would I let you down?”

Raising his eyebrows, Harvey tries to will away the flush rising on his cheeks. “I guess we’ll see.”

Mike salutes, and Harvey snickers.

“Be back here in two hours.”

“You got it, boss man.”

He saunters out of the room, and Harvey’s vision goes out of focus as he drops the papers to his desk. _Does_ Mike want a ring? Two months is hardly enough time for something like that, isn’t it? Yes, definitely, it’s much too soon for such an overt gesture. Something so permanent. Not that he isn’t serious about Mike, not that he doesn’t want that for them, someday, it’s just that it’s a bit much, all at once. Mike knows that, right? He gets it, doesn’t he? He understands.

Harvey taps his fingers together. He’s got two more days to come up with a perfect anniversary present, something to show Mike how much he means to him. How much better he is than Madeleine, or Isabella, or Ted Phillips, or any of the other women and men in Harvey’s checkered past.

Not a ring, but _something._

Harvey narrows his eyes. Maybe…

\---

Congratulating himself for only suffering one brief moment of panic—is the restaurant too fancy? Not fancy enough?—Harvey escorts Mike through the doors of Le Bernardin, nodding surreptitiously to the maître d’ and following him to the corner table by the window. He doesn’t miss the way Mike subtly marvels at the elegant décor and the elaborate dishes being brought out of the kitchen, and congratulates himself again on having made a pretty good call.

Mike sits down, and Harvey sits across from him, and they smile a little stupidly at each other for a few seconds before Mike tries not to laugh and starts coughing.

“Alright?” Harvey prompts, but Mike only shakes his head.

“You don’t think taking me to places like this is going to have any impact on my love and respect for cheese in the crust, right?”

Torn between laughing loudly and grasping his head in exasperation, Harvey elects to smirk and lace his fingers in front of his face. “I wouldn’t _dream_ of it,” he croons. “But I do think I’m making some headway in fine wines.”

“Maybe.”

Harvey nods, his smile softening as Mike stops tempering his giggling.

“Happy anniversary.”

His giggles tapering off, Mike blinks owlishly and looks around again. “Anniversary?”

Shit.

Shit, shit, shit.

He didn’t even remember?

Hoping his confusion isn’t coming off too angry, or hurt, Harvey tilts his head a bit. “Two months, we’ve been together. Two month, anniversary. Tonight. Well, today.”

“Oh.” Mike sits back in his chair, looking somewhat bewildered. “I mean, I know we’ve been together two months, I just… Yeah, I guess that counts as an anniversary.”

_What?_

Mike doesn’t think his relationships usually last this long, probably. Mike doesn’t think Harvey can keep his interest in one person for such a stretch. Mike is waiting for them to break up. Mike probably thought tonight was about calling things off.

Harvey’s expression must be downright crestfallen, because Mike suddenly waves his hands and shakes his head wildly.

“No,” he blusters, “no, I’m really happy we have, and I’m glad we are, I just… I didn’t think the anniversaries really started counting until the six month mark. Like…half a year?”

Oh.

Oh, well. Maybe. Come to think of it, “half a year” does have a somewhat more conspicuous ring to it than “two months.”

But still.

“Well,” Harvey tries to recover as though he’s been in control the entire time, “you might have a point there, so if you don’t want your gift, I’ll understand.”

“Give it here,” Mike says at once, reaching out his open hand as Harvey fishes a glossy pillow box out of his pocket.

“I hope this holds up against the orchids.”

Carefully plucking the box from Harvey’s fingers, Mike’s gaze darts curiously from it to his anticipatory face and back. Harvey tries not to bait his breath as Mike slips his fingers under the folded edges, but the grin on his face can’t be doing much to hide his excitement when Mike tips the box into his waiting hand.

For a moment, Mike only stares down at his palm.

When he finally looks up, the furrow in his brow puts a sickening twist in Harvey’s stomach that’s well on its way up to his chest as Mike opens his mouth.

“Are you serious?”

So that’s not an ideal response. Harvey blinks quickly as Mike holds up his new key.

“This is a serious offer you’re making right now?”

“I,” Harvey fumbles, “I just want to make sure you know how, how serious I am about—you, about…us.”

“Harvey,” Mike says gently. “Harvey, thank you, this is…sweet, but I mean, we’ve only been going out for two months. I love you,” he rushes to assure him, “I do, I love you a whole lot, but I mean, let’s not rush into things, you know? We’ve got time, let’s take it.”

Time? They’ve got _time?_ But doesn’t Mike know how quickly life can happen, how suddenly everything he thinks he knows can be thrown into disarray? How abruptly everything he believes can be upended, can be torn to the ground?

Of course he does, you asshole.

And _still,_ he wants to take things slow.

Harvey opens his mouth, trying to think of something, anything to say, any way to recover this disaster, when he sees the light of understanding come into Mike’s eyes.

“Wait a second,” he hazards, “is this all because I said you were trading down when you started going out with me?”

Clamping his mouth shut, Harvey averts his gaze to the window at Mike’s back. He could deny it, certainly, but what would be the point?

“I didn’t want you to feel like you weren’t good enough for me,” he offers, but Mike only laughs again.

“Oh, please,” he mocks. “I _know_ I’m not good enough for you; I keep waiting for you to wake up and realize you can do better.”

The very idea. Harvey raises his eyes back to Mike’s face, feeling his lips quirk up at the corner and his cheeks begin to strain. “Not interested,” he says flatly.

“But, wait a second,” Mike presses, “is that why you’ve been giving me all that stuff?”

Harvey shrugs evasively, and Mike bites his lip on a wide grin.

“Oh, no,” he says, “you don’t get to plead the fifth on this one. Hey,” he goes on mercifully, “not gonna lie, I figured that was just your…normal thing in a new relationship, showing off and stuff, but I gotta admit, I have not hated you going all in on the whole courtship thing.”

Harvey arches his eyebrows, seizing on the opportunity to divert Mike’s attention from his delight at teasing him. “‘Courtship’?” he parrots with just a hint of ridicule that Mike doesn’t even pretend to take seriously.

“Well what would you call it?” he challenges, and Harvey has to admit he has a point.

“Fine,” he concedes, content for them to smile at each other for a few moments before he sets his arms on the table and leans forward.

“Really, though, I want you to keep it.”

“Harvey—”

“You’re right,” he interrupts Mike’s reflexive objection, “it’s too soon for us to live together. I was panicking, and it’s too much, too fast. But I want you to keep it anyway, I want you to have a key to my place, because someday it won’t be too soon, and when that happens, I want you… I want it to feel like home.”

Mike seems a bit startled at that, and Harvey tries to repress the resurgence of his fears that Mike is waiting for him to bolt. That’s not it. It’s not. No, really, it’s not.

“Harvey,” Mike says firmly, bracing his hands on the edge of the table and angling his body forward, “I’m about to say something incredibly cheesy right now, and I need you to promise not to hold it against me for the rest of my life.”

_See?_

Harvey purses his lips. “That’s a big commitment to make without all the facts.”

“ _Promise_ me.”

“Alright, fine, what?”

Mike smiles a little awkwardly, moving his hands to the tabletop.

“If you’re there, it will.”

Harvey smiles back as Mike nods to himself.

“Happy anniversary, Harvey.”

Yeah. Life is pretty damn great.

**Author's Note:**

> “Zoe, I’m still not convinced I should hire you instead of Ted Phillips. After all, Harvey never tried to sleep with Ted Phillips.”  
> “Who says I never tried to sleep with Ted Phillips?”  
> —Jessica and Harvey, “Sucker Punch” (s02e07)
> 
> Fighting the foreclosure of Madison 25 on behalf of Tom Clapper is the main thrust of the case Mike and Harvey are working on in “The Choice” (s02e02).
> 
> The Modern is a pricey French/American restaurant in the Museum of Modern Art.
> 
> The HP TouchSmart 610-1065qd (Best All-In-One/Touch Screen) and the HP Z210 Small Form Factor (Best Business/Workstation) are two of PC Magazine’s Best Desktops of the Year 2011.
> 
> “Alright, Doctor Cox” references Dr. Perry Cox from _Scrubs_ , who is known for being, among other things, very sarcastic.
> 
> Mike and Harvey have their anniversary dinner at Le Bernardin, a high-end seafood restaurant.
> 
> I can never resist an opportunity to lambaste Harvey/Paula; Harvey awkwardly gives Paula the key to his apartment for their two-month anniversary in “100” (s07e08) and rather desperately asks her to move in with him in “Hard Truths” (s07e11).
> 
> Cline, E. (2011). _Ready Player One_. New York City, NY: Random House.


End file.
